Presidential elections in France


Presidential elections in France determine who will serve as the President of France for the next several years.
Currently they are held once in five years. They are always held on Sundays. Since 1965 the president has been elected by direct popular vote.

History

Second Republic

There was one presidential election in France during the government known as the Second Republic. It was held in 1848. The president was elected by direct popular vote.

Third Republic

There were 15 presidential elections in France during the government known as the Third Republic.
According to the Constitutional Laws of 1875, the President was elected by an absolute majority of votes by the two houses of the Parliament assembled at the National Assembly.

Fourth Republic

There were two presidential elections in France during the republican government known as the Fourth Republic. They were held in 1947 and 1953.
The president was elected by the Congress of the French Parliament, a joint meeting of both houses of the French Parliament.

Fifth Republic

There have been 11 presidential elections in France since the establishment of the Fifth Republic in 1958.
Originally the president was elected by the Collège des Notables that included around 80,000 county and city/town councillors.
Following the 1962 de Gaulle's constitutional reform the president has been directly elected by the people of France.
Until the French constitutional revision of September 24, 2000, the president had been elected for a seven-year term. Under this revision the term was reduced to five years.
Currently, the President of the French Republic is elected to a five-year term in a two-round election under Article 7 of the Constitution: if no candidate secures an absolute majority of votes in the first round, a second round is held two weeks later between the two candidates who received the most votes. Since 1965, when the current election system was introduced, every election has gone to a second round.
The latest election was in 2017. The first round was held on 23 April 2017, the second on 7 May.